Bruce Balgaard has been the Director of Worship at First Covenant since January of 2012. He is also owner/operator of Strum Farm guitar repair that’s housed inside the Good Arts Collective of which he is an active member, and a co-owner/partner of a successful private-party band called “The Covers” [www.meetthecovers.com].

Bruce has been involved in leading worship since his high school days. He has been a professional musician in the Twin Cities area for over 35 years. He studied voice at the U of M School of Music and specializes in guitar, bass, and vocals. Between 1996 and 2004, he was on staff at Church of the Open Door (Maple Grove, MN) where he was the head of the music department for five of the eight years.

Bruce is married to Cheryl who has worked in the Hennepin County Library system for over 15 years. They have two adult children - a son who recently graduated cum laude from University of California, Sacramento with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and a daughter who graduated from St. Olaf College with a BA in English Education and teaches 10th grade English at Connections Academy in St. Paul.